Automatically save encrypted wallets on a remote server

[CombustibleLemon]

So I was reading the second whitepaper and thinking.  Always dangerous, but I've gotten into that habit.  One of the main remaining weaknesses of bitcoin is that you can lose bitcoins by writing over wallets.

But if we're already allowing users to encrypt wallets, and if the encryption is secure, then shouldn't it be secure to allow users of the native client to automatically export their wallets to multiple backup servers?  Because the wallets take up negligible space running a backup server should be low impact and something just about anyone can do from a garage.

1.This should only be an option AFTER encrypting a wallet.
2.A properly encrypted remote copy of a wallet should be safe from even a corrupt server operator.
3. Wallets can be remotely retrieved on any copy of the bitcoin client and unpacked on the local computer.




This seems to me like it would be a killer app of bitcoin, your bitcoins anywhere, but also secure

[1713585247]

1713585247

[grue]

why not make a script that uploads to a ftp server? or i can whip up a c# application that encrypts your wallet, and uploads to services like dropbox.

[CombustibleLemon]

I already have multiple copies of my wallet.  But a new user would not know how to do this.  Streamlining it by including it as an automatic option in the client would make the learning curve for bitcoin much shallower, and much less dangerous to your coins.

And I'm rereading about the deterministic wallets in clients like Armory.  I still like the simplicity of my idea more though.

[hex]

Yes but I am not sure if official bitcoin client is even planned to be user friendly.

The biggest problem now is blockchain downloading and storing. It takes almost 3GB now and how big will it be in a year? 10G ?
And they have no plan AFAIK to fix that problem...

So I think that if official client is to be kept for advanced users and average joes should find another solution with all protections or hosted.

[kjj]

Code:

2012-01-14 911579996 /etc/bitcoin/blk0001.dat
2012-01-15 914759556 /etc/bitcoin/blk0001.dat
2012-01-16 917831173 /etc/bitcoin/blk0001.dat

Still under a gig and growing by just over 3 megs a day.

And exporting the wallet is still trivial.  In windows, just make a scheduled task to run a .bat file to export the wallet and then use your choice of upload tool.  In unix, use crond.

[hex]

Still under a gig and growing by just over 3 megs a day.

Whole folder. index is another 350MB and database folder is 1.6GB

[etotheipi]

I already have multiple copies of my wallet.  But a new user would not know how to do this.  Streamlining it by including it as an automatic option in the client would make the learning curve for bitcoin much shallower, and much less dangerous to your coins.

And I'm rereading about the deterministic wallets in clients like Armory.  I still like the simplicity of my idea more though.

What is a simpler backup solution than printing/copying your wallet once and never having to back it up again?  And the paper backup is even better than USB keys or servers, because you never have to worry about the USB key working when you plug it in a year from now, or a HDD/server failing.  Plus, a sheet of paper is a LOT cheaper and a lot easier to hide, and its integrity is visually verifiable.

Not to mention you can still backup the encrypted version to a server somewhere, but I don't see the necessity of risking something like the 0.4.0 wallet-not-actually-encrypted bug.

[conspirosphere.tk]

Yes but I am not sure if official bitcoin client is even planned to be user friendly.

The biggest problem now is blockchain downloading and storing. It takes almost 3GB now and how big will it be in a year? 10G ?
And they have no plan AFAIK to fix that problem...

So I think that if official client is to be kept for advanced users and average joes should find another solution with all protections or hosted.

+1. Danloadin the friggin 1GB+ monetary base all the time seems overkill even to me. How about adding the option to use on-the-fly some online version of the blockchain (via p2p ideally, or some cloud) and/or download a shortened version, like Electrum / Multibit do?  

And how about a portable version which stores the wallet and everything in the same folder of the prog instead of hiding it in the system partition? I had to hack a .bat file myself to have a so essential feature.

[stcupp]

Yes but I am not sure if official bitcoin client is even planned to be user friendly.

The biggest problem now is blockchain downloading and storing. It takes almost 3GB now and how big will it be in a year? 10G ?
And they have no plan AFAIK to fix that problem...

So I think that if official client is to be kept for advanced users and average joes should find another solution with all protections or hosted.

+1. Danloadin the friggin 1GB+ monetary base all the time seems overkill even to me. How about adding the option to use on-the-fly some online version of the blockchain (via p2p ideally, or some cloud) and/or download a shortened version, like Electrum / Multibit do?  

And how about a portable version which stores the wallet and everything in the same folder of the prog instead of hiding it in the system partition? I had to hack a .bat file myself to have a so essential feature.

theres a option for bitcoin.conf that lets you choose any folder youd like

Code:

-datadir=<dir>     Specify data directory